1992-1999Series I L27 (1992-1994 SE,SLE, SSE) & Series II L36 (1995-1999 SE, SSE, SLE) and
common problems for the Series I and II L67 (all supercharged models 92-99) Including Olds 88's, Olds LSS's and Buick Lesabres
Please use General Chat for non-mechanical issues, and Performance and Brainstorming for improvements.

Well, tonight, after helping a friend work on his Accord all afternoon (stereo stuff), I start the car up, and scarcely get out of his driveway when the car starts screaming. Pop the hood and find that the alternator is the culprit. I can feel it vibrating as the car idles. The voltage guage is tagged just above the red zone (slowly draining the battery I would assume).

Anyone ever have this happen to them? Anyone wanna recommend a good alt to get as a replacement? I am thinking Napa Premium (with a lifetime warr) but $180 is a lot of money to drop :(

some people have good and bad experiences w/ napa I have not had a problem with mine and even though it cost 300 w/ core so basically 200 after i traded in my old alt It was worth it mainly becasue a lifetime warrenty. I mean thre are tons of places to get alts but i know napa wil be around forever and i know they will always have my alt in stock. So pay a lil more now for piece of mind later

I also replaced mine with a AC-Delco. I have ALWAYS had good luck with their products, no matter what part of the car it was for. So far I have replaced the following since I bought the car, ALL AC-Delco, and have yet to have 1 problem with anything.

I rebuild my own alternators since the aftermaket ones only last about 2 years. The last time it cost me about $80.00 CDN for the following parts: 2 sets of brushes; voltage regulator and diode pack. (I broke the first set of brushes when I had to re-open the alternator back up to replace the diode pack the very next day). It takes under an hour to rebuild an alternator BTW too.
PS: my last own rebuilt alternator is still working fine after 5 years too.

I just bought an AC Delco unit. $160, 2yr warranty. I wanted a lifetime NAPA unit but unfortunately they didn't have any, had to order it and I needed the car fixed NOW. Betwee a rock and a hard place I guess. So I went to another shop and got the Delco.

If this one does fail then I might try my hand in rebuilding it myself. Although to echo Terminator I have had nothing but great experiences with Delco parts and hopefully this will not change the pattern.

I was going to change out my alt and found out this time it was my gauge. So always check the gauge because I have eaten 4 now but the final one seems to be fine. Now ití* the gauge. That said I have found an awesome source for alternators and I will hopefully have their product up soon.

FYI I have changed about 5 of these suckers in the past 12 years on my '92 so I can do it real fast. It only took me 10 years to discover that there is another issue that can fool you into replacing the alternator. Check the positive battery cable at the battery. Its a 3 part assembly and you have to dissasemble it, clean it really well and put it back together. It made a world of difference for me and kept me from replacing a starter and probably should have kept me from an alternator or two.